Convert Dataset to XML

Question

I've been stuck with this problem for a few hours and can't seem to figure it out, so I'm asking here :)

Alright, I've got this function:

private void XmlDump()
{
    XDocument doc = new XDocument(new XDeclaration("1.0", "utf-8", "yes"));
    XElement rootElement = new XElement("dump");
    rootElement.Add(TableToX("Support"));

    string connectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["MyDb"].ConnectionString;
    SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(connectionString);
    string sql = "select * from support";
    SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(sql, con);

    DataSet ds = new DataSet("Test");
    da.Fill(ds, "support");

    // Convert dataset to XML here

    var docresult = // Converted XML

    Response.Write(docResult);
    Response.ContentType = "text/xml; charset=utf-8";
    Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=test.xml");
    Response.End();
}

I've been trying all kind of different things but I keep getting errors, so I've left the how to convert DataSet to XML part blank.

And another thing, this query contains columns with special characters.

Answer 1

You can use ds.WriteXml, but that will require you to have a Stream to put the output into. If you want the output in a string, try this extension method:

public static class Extensions
{
    public static string ToXml(this DataSet ds)
    {
        using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
        {
            using (TextWriter streamWriter = new StreamWriter(memoryStream))
            {
                var xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(DataSet));
                xmlSerializer.Serialize(streamWriter, ds);
                return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(memoryStream.ToArray());
            }
        }
    }
}

USAGE:

var xmlString = ds.ToXml();
// OR
Response.Write(ds.ToXml());

Answer 2

Simply use Dataset.getXml():

doc.LoadXml(ds.GetXml());